Is it true?

Don't get excited folks... Vermont realized it was losing tax dollars to no-tax New Hampshire and has started prosecuting people to get it. There has always been a place on the tax form to declare unpaid sales tax (for things purchased mail order or by crossing the border) but nobody ever used it. Now the state is demanding to see credit card charges on the NH side, and from large mail order companies. They prosecuted several people very publically last tax season.

They now have a little chart which estimates, based on your income, what you probably spent on out of state shopping. If you pay that extra tax, they won't prosecute you unless you've purchased something really major and tried to hide it. I *think* it is still up to the state to prove you bought stuff outside of the state... so in theory you could cross the border and pay cash for everything, gas and meals included, and not file any rebate forms etc...

But the state is now moving to collect its pound of flesh on retail transactions no matter where they are made.

CarlaWVgal said:

Hush MorrisonCorner! That would really tick me off because living in WV I benefit from haveing low real estate and personal property taxes, but I grocery shop in Maryland because thay don't tax whole foods and I clothes shop in Pennsylvania because there is no clothing tax.

Carla

Click to expand...

TELL me about it. They had this nice 50 something couple on the news.. socked with a several hundred dollar tax penalty for buying some stuff on the other side of the border and failing to declare it on their taxes. I think it was some $500 worth of stuff (at 6% VT sales tax, that is $30 tax). By the time the state got done adding interest and penalties it was into the hundreds. So the camera is catching their bewilderment... along with their trailer and run down old beater of a car. Like these people are really big fish. The state went after them because they couldn't fight back.

Anyhow, last year I paid the extortion (oops.. tax) because I didn't want them showing up on my doorstep. Who knows how much they spent on out of state purchases over a year? Like I need something else to keep track of.

What a PITA.